So, 7 righties in the pen next year?

I like it.

Let's trade Ramos.

Ramos, Ziegler, Phelps, Tazawa, Barraclough, Wittgren & McGowan. Ellington and Cervenka in AAA.

Good chance Ellington is just as effective as Ramos next year. You gotta make a move, and Ramos just makes the most sense. Maybe even make Phelps or Wittgren available if you can get a lefty-specialist in a deal.

I love the move and I've stated my reasons before. Underrated reliever on the market who has been nearly as good as Jansen the last two seasons but nobody cares because he's 37 years old. 2 years, $16 million was the number that was thrown around for Ziegler at the start of the free agent period. It's both completely reasonable and undervaluing what Ziegler can actually contribute. Tazawa/Ziegler for $28 million is a much, much better decision than dedicating $86 million to Jansen or Chapman. It might not make those headlines, but it'll improve the team's ability to compete.

This shouldn't be the end of the Marlins offseason though. They're still in on a few starting pitchers left. Most importantly, the bullpen is crowded and I don't see it as taking away from its strength by trading somebody in it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This is the perfect offseason to trade Ramos. Closers will never be more highly valued. That said I know the Marlins are very unlikely to shop him.

If that's the case, it's likely the team will put Dietrich at the front of discussions with Luis Castillo being the prospect being brought into talks and see what they can get (starting pitchers in return likely). They'll find teams don't value Dietrich too highly and they'll settle for something on the low end #4, #5 starter in return in a trade.

It's also not a bad idea to give Phelps a look at starting pitcher again in Spring Training. I know I've said Phelps is more likely to succeed in the 'pen, and I still believe that to be true (as does the Marlins front office thankfully). That said he still had something like a low 2 ERA in starts last season (despite low inning turnouts) and it doesn't hurt the team to have a competition between Koehler, Locke, and Phelps with the top guys joining Chen/Conley/Volquez in the rotation.

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I don't know if he can be as effective as Ramos, but he's definitely a major league reliever right now. He's had sub 3 ERA's in his two major league stints the last two years. Outside of some walk issues, AAA batters couldn't hit him at all last season. At 26-years-old, he's as ready as he'll ever be.

Wittgren isn't being traded because he wasn't all that highly valued by most people when he was a prospect and he hasn't had enough major league time to earn credibility.

It could definitely be Phelps who is brought up in trades, but he has too much value given his ability to start games (and we have questionable starting pitchers).

It's hard to beat around the bush here. Ramos is the guy to trade. If they don't do it now, it's a wasted golden opportunity and they'll just be killing time until they're forced to trade him when his value has already diminished (which it in all likelihood will do).

Now that all the top relievers are falling from the market, now is when desperate teams will throw something valuable to get him.

Worst case scenario the Marlins wait until July, pray that Ramos has another All-Star season, and trade him at what would be his highest value at the trade deadline.

Actually alot of teams have asked about Bearclaw,Wittgren and Ellington. Teams see them as closers but more as buy low options(Cheap/controllable) I could see a rebuilding team try to get one of them

AL teams value DD actually.

As for Ramos,he would be the #2 RP on the market behind Robertson. But would we trade him to Washington or the Mets?? Teams looking for a closer are NYY,Mets,Washington,Baltimore,Arizona and Colorado. I would call Arizona and Colorado first,Arizona has tons of SP or even Brandon Drury and Colorado has the young RP arms(Estevez,Castro,Diaz) and prospects. Also saves us 6.5 million

I love getting Ziegler in light of everything but his 1.9 WAR over the last 2 years is not nearly as good as Jansens 4.9.


I guess it depends what your version of nearly is.

I find it very strange how Fangraphs has Ziegler with a 0.6 WAR in 2015 with a 1.85 ERA over 68 IP. That's just really strange. I don't know if he was being rated as having less value because he wasn't striking out as many people.

Jansen is clearly the better player, younger player. However, Ziegler can have as much an impact next season as Jansen would've had. I truly believe that. Everything signals Ziegler's recent success being sustainable. I see him being the team's closer after not too long.

2015 was a freak year with a 3.48xFIP and an absolutely ridiculous .218babip. I don't know what their WAR formula is, but I imagine that had something to do with it.

His K rate rebounded in 2016 and his BABIP bounced over 100 points to .325 and he was still successful, so nothing to worry about.

If I remember correctly fangraphs using FIP instead of ERA when calculating WAR. Ziegler has always posted an ERA lower than his FIP in a season. In 2015, he had 1.85 ERA with a 3.44 FIP.